At one point, Jason even came hauntingly close to saving his daughter when he was able to grab ahold of her hands.
“It’s kind of a blur, and it’s probably maybe in my mind protecting itself, but it just happened so fast,” he said. “And in my mind I had her in my hands, but the weight of the sand was too much.”
Sloan Mattingly Remembered by Her Parents
Sloan is remembered by her parents as “a beam of light,” and pure “joy,” Terese said.
She loved Taylor Swift and making friendship bracelets for her family, friends, and teachers.
Her brother Maddox was her “built in best friend,” and after suffering his own kind of trauma with the loss of his sister while also being buried by the sand hole, Maddox is now coping with being an only child.
“I think he’s holding a lot in,” Terese said when asked how her son is doing. “There’s a lot of things we have in motion to help him with that and to help us help him.”
“I think he’ll always be a little different now, but we’re willing to do whatever we need to do to make sure he has the help to kind of process this and move forward with Sloan in his heart,” Jason Mattingly added.
In the weeks since their tragic loss, Terese and Matt have been overwhelmed by the love and support they’ve received from friends and family to complete strangers around the world who have been touched by their daughter’s story.
“We’ve read every letter. We really appreciate all the support,” Matt said of the outpouring of care.
The family hopes that by speaking out about their tragic experience, they can help other families from ever going through what they are going through.
“I don’t know what steps to take in order for that to happen — for, you know, signage or lifeguards or patrol,” Therese Mattingly said. “But hopefully we can make some sort of change from this.”
